There will be no vote in August to support Park Township road maintenance. It will likely be on the November ballot instead.

The deadline to have a ballot resolution certified by Ottawa County is Tuesday. Without having come to a consensus on how to generate more funds for the township roads, a resolution was not ready for the Thursday regular meeting of the Park Township Board of Trustees to approve.

The trustees agreed pushing a resolution through with a special meeting Monday was not an option. It did agree to continue using $200,000 of general fund money for road maintenance.

While an actual vote is forthcoming, trustees seem to agree asking residents for a tax levy of .5 mill is the right option. If approved by voters, that could generate roughly $460,000 more for maintenance of what Township Manager Jerry Felix referred to as “neighborhood streets.”

During the past few months, the board considered several options. A township-wide special assessment district, the idea that had risen to the top of the list, was nixed by the township attorney as the least defensible option.

“A half mill is easy to understand,” Trustee Nicki Arendshorst said.

“The beauty about it is that people decide,” Park Township Supervisor Jerry Hunsburger said.

Waiting for the November ballot, which has an Aug. 12 deadline with the county, will allow the township time to inform the residents and get feedback

Now is the time to ask, because of the condition of the roads, Trustee Michael Toscano said via phone from Colorado, because a vote will discern how serious residents are about paying for improvements.

Township Clerk Skip Keeter expressed concern that the millage could be detrimental to the Holland Historical Trust’s planned millage and could seem over-taxing on a ballot that could have a number of proposals.

The trustees agreed that multiple sources are needed to fix the roads on the state, county and local levels. Another concern was that if the Ottawa County Road Commission asks for a millage, the township millage could fail. There was more concern that revenues generated in the township for the road commission by that millage might not come back to the township. The trustees want to know more about how that millage could work before moving forward on a township millage as well.

Police funding

In other business, the board approved putting on the August ballot a four-year renewal of the .67 mill tax levy that pays for policing services from the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office.

Hunsburger said discussions have started with the city of Holland about emergency response in the southern portion of the township. Contracting with the city could cost more, he said, but it could also improve service and response times. While the discussions have started, it could be some time before anything comes of it. If it goes through, the millage would also pay for that service.

Page 2 of 2 - Holland Department of Public Safety Chief Matt Messer confirmed in an email to The Sentinel that those talks have begun. In 2012, as the city was facing major budget cuts, a list of 50 items was developed to study for possible cost savings in the city. Contracting with Park Township for police services in southern Park Township was on that list.